What You Need to Know About Starting a Paving Project
Learning about the basics of concrete and asphalt paving can be interesting, but you’re probably only learning about it in reference to repaving your own driveway (or parking lot, for those who own businesses).
Most of us can tell when a road needs repaving. It’s usually obvious: cracks in the pavement, faded paint stripes, or maybe potholes. But what about the paving around your own home?
Unless you’re in the paving business or a professional contractor, chances are good that you may not be familiar with the start-to-finish paving project flow. Before you start on your repaving projects, here’s a few tips to keep in mind.
When You Need to Replace It
The first step in starting a paving replacement project is to verify that your pavement actually needs to be replaced. Some of the signs are clearly visible: potholes or cracks (also known as alligator cracks) are indicators that there may be a problem with the pavement’s foundational layer.
Other signs are more subtle. Standing water on the pavement after a rain or very faded pavement can also indicate a problem. The best way to know for sure is to call a professional company for a consultation.
Choosing Materials
Pavement generally comes as either concrete or asphalt. Both have similar uses – creating a smooth driving surface – but concrete is typically seen in residential homes and asphalt in commercial venues, although that distinction is by no means universal.
When it comes to asphalt, you may not know that there are actually several different kinds of asphalt. Porous asphalt, for example, is a type of paving method that allows the rainwater to drain into the ground below the asphalt instead of creating runoff. It’s actually the most environmentally friendly paving option and may even be eligible for tax benefits if you are a business. Other types of asphalt include hot, cold, and custom mixes.
Preparing for Removal
One thing that you may not think of right away when beginning a replacement pavement project is what you should do with your old pavement once it comes out of the ground. Using a regular trash can isn’t really an option when tearing up old pavement, but renting a dumpster may be. You can also try giving it to other contractors for repurposing or, if you have a pickup truck, cart it off to the dump yourself. Either way, you’ll need to have a plan for removing the old stuff.
Keeping Your Worksite Safe
You’ll also probably want to prioritize keeping the worksite safe for the duration of the project. Regular construction signs and hazard tape can help, but if you’re not able to completely avoid the worksite while your construction crew is putting down pavement, then you may want to make a few plans. In parking lots, for example, you can encourage people to park as far from the construction site as possible. Set up a similar policy for pedestrians.
In either case, it’s important to keep the worksite as free of debris as possible. Consider renting a trash hopper or a dumpster with wheels. Self dumping trash hoppers make a worksite safer by keeping dangerous debris off the ground.
Decide on Your Budget
Next, you’ll want to think about the budget for your proposed paving project. If you’re looking at paving a residential driveway, estimates run between $3,000-$7,000 per project, roughly. If you’re in the commercial sector and looking at repaving a parking lot, costs can be anywhere from $10,000-$150,000, or about $2.50 to $7 per square foot of parking lot paved.
Of course, these are rough estimates and your costs will vary drastically depending on a variety of factors such as size, materials used, and pavement type laid. Setting your budget beforehand will help you determine the scope of your paving project, as well the type of materials used, and even the contractor you hire.
Find a Reliable Contractor
When it comes time to search for a professional contractor to get your paving project started, where do you go?
Although it may be tempting to open the laptop (or phone) and do a Google search for pavement companies, this isn’t always the best way to find a good company. Consider talking to a company or individuals that you already know and trust in the construction field and see if they have any good advice or contractors they would perhaps recommend. If this isn’t a feasible option for you, then doing a web search can help you identify a few companies to reach out to and ask for a consultation before committing to anything.
Familiarize Yourself With the Topic
Your pavement project (or really any project) will go a lot smoother if you are already familiar with the basics of the actual paving process and how it’s done. Construction projects are known for their delayed completion dates, and knowing what’s going to happen and in what order can help you keep track of the process and potentially keep you from getting frustrated. Familiarizing yourself with the topic will also help you to communicate better with your contractors and help you understand each other better.
Letting the Asphalt Settle
And last but not least – when your paving project is finally completed, let the asphalt settle!
You may be anxious after all this time to just drive, park, or do donuts on your newly paved surface, but as your pavement contractors will tell you, please don’t! Letting the asphalt settle properly will ensure that your pavement job is secured successfully.
And fortunately for you, this isn’t that long of a wait. Asphalt usually settles within 24 to 48 hours after the top layer is laid, so at most it’ll be a couple days. Of course, please always follow the specific guidelines and recommendations from your contractor.
Are you ready to start a pavement project yet? If you’re seeing potholes, bulges, and alligator cracks in your current asphalt, it may be time to think about it.
Read this next: How Asphalt Helps Business Owners
The Steps of a Typical Asphalt Repair Job
Asphalt is an excellent paving option that can create a surprising array of different benefits for your home. However, it can also end up getting damaged and needing repairs to ensure that it stays in great shape. That’s where the best asphalt repair in Champaign, Mahomet, and Monticello, Illinois comes into play. At Elite Paving & Sealcoating, we can provide high-quality repairs to your asphalt. We will use the following techniques to ensure that you get the most out of your repairs as well.
Removal of Damaged Asphalt
When you start the asphalt repair process, the first thing you need to do is break apart the existing surface. The amount that you remove will vary depending on the extent of the damage. Most of the time, you’ll need to remove only a small portion. However, there may be times when you have to get rid of the whole slab. This factor all depends on the extent of the damage to your paving materials.
As you work on breaking apart your asphalt, you have a few choices from which to choose. Some people prefer using hammers and other heavy tools to break apart asphalt. We suggest that you, instead, get professionals who can use jackhammers and other devices. These items will break apart the pavement more easily, thereby making it simpler to pick up and move later on in this process.
And you need to hire forklifts and other hauling equipment to take away the leftover asphalt. Typically, this process is one that shouldn’t take a lot of time to manage if you hire experts. These pros will come to your home or business, carefully load up all of the leftover asphalt, and haul it away in their trucks. In this way, they can make sure that your home is ready for a whole new slab of asphalt.
Repairing the Damaged Asphalt
Though we often have to completely remove damaged asphalt areas from your home’s driveway or parking lot, we may also be able to fix some small issues without removal. For example, there are many types of asphalt patches that we can apply directly to cracks that heal them. These items will either fix the surface crack or fill up the crack and make sure that the asphalt stays connected.
In some cases, though, we may have to pour in new asphalt to make sure that the repair stays strong. This step may seem like it would cost the most money, but it can be surprisingly easy and beneficial. All that we’ll do is bring high-quality asphalt directly to your home, make sure that it stays well mixed and warm, and then pour it directly into the damaged areas to ensure a high level of protection.
At this point, we’ll then grade and slope the asphalt to make sure that it stays at the proper level. This step is usually reasonably easy to perform because it doesn’t take a lot of time in most cases. Sometimes, all you’ll need to do is use a few hand-held tools to get the surface even. We will work hard to ensure that your asphalt repair patch doesn’t seem out of place or too prominent compared to the rest of your driveway.
Adding Protective Sealants
While we are repairing your asphalt, we will also be adding different elements to the surface of your slab that keep it strong and protected. Each of these levels of protection is designed to create a stronger tile and to avoid common asphalt damage problems. In many cases, you’ll likely find that these sealants do a lot of the hard work in preventing other repairs in the future.
For example, a new binder layer can help to keep asphalt secure and stop a lot of damage from spreading throughout its surface. Often, this layer is one of the more critical elements of keeping your pavement looking great. However, other steps must be taken to ensure that a slab of asphalt is strong, well-protected from damage, and capable of long-lasting protection.
Therefore, you’ll need to add a sealant on top to protect your asphalt repair. Typically, we’ll add various asphalt sealers and then a sealcoat directly on top of these. A sealcoat produces a single protective layer that keeps multiple types of damage away from your pavement. This damage protection includes guarding against UV, water, and temperature-related problems with your asphalt that may occur without warning.
Adding Butt Joints and Transitions
Lastly, a typical asphalt repair process ends with installing high-quality butt joints and other transitions to the surface of your pavement. This step is critical because your slab will otherwise lack the kind of smooth look that you want and deserve. Simply put, these joints and transitions help to make the repair spots even not only with the rest of your driveway but with other areas, including roads and the other regions that may run near you.
Butt joints typically connect these pieces of pavement in such a way that they are hardly even noticeable. When you don’t add them, though, you’ll quickly notice the differences in the levels between your repaired spot and the rest of your driveway. You may also not get the same type of runoff and grading that you would if you didn’t install them, which can lead to pooling water on your asphalt and other problems that may cause more damage.
And then, after adding all of these elements to your asphalt, the surface goes through one more roll to keep it even. Typically, this process requires using a new roller truck – or a similar machine – to smooth the surface down to a level that makes sense. Beyond this benefit, a roller truck also helps to prevent loose stones or aggregate coming up through the surface of your repairs. In this way, your asphalt can stay secure and protected.
Keeping Your Asphalt Strong for Years to Come
As you can see, keeping your asphalt in great shape is nowhere near as hard as you may have thought. All you have to do is take several steps to ensure that it doesn’t end up getting damaged. Beyond that, you also have to do whatever is necessary to keep your slabs stable and secure. So if you need asphalt repair in Champaign, Mahomet, and Monticello, Illinois and you want the best results, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Elite Paving & Sealcoating right away. We’ll do what we can to keep your asphalt secure and provide a higher level of repair protection than our many competitors.
What to Do if Your Pavement Starts to Crack
Working with the best central Illinois paving contractors Champaign, Mahomet, and Monticello have to offer requires that you fully understand how to diagnose the various types of cracks that can occur on your asphalt paving. The following guide will give you an understanding of what to do when you see these cracks – no matter what – and how you can ensure they don’t come back.
Track the Problem as It Develops
Once you start seeing any cracking on your pavement – whether alligator or longitudinal issues – you need to track the problem and see where it originates. This step may seem very hard, but it is something that just about any homeowner can do if they are mindful about their pavement. For example, you can follow the lines of the pavement crack to get an idea of where they originate.
This process requires you to spend some time thoroughly examining the surface of your pavement and getting down on your hands and knees. Though this may seem somewhat time-consuming, it is something that shouldn’t take more than an hour. You may want to wear knee pads, though, to ensure that you don’t hurt yourself.
At this point, you probably have a pretty good idea of where the cracks originated but may not fully understand why they are occurring. That’s okay – you have paving contractors who fully understand these problems and who can take the proper steps to manage these issues. However, you should know how to do some spot repairs on your asphalt to ensure that it is as strong as possible and to decrease the spread of cracks across your driveway or parking lot.
Do Spot Repairs
Once you notice issues on your pavement that needs repair, you can take a few different steps. The first is to contact professionals to do the repairs for you. The second is to do the repairs on your own. This step isn’t a bad idea if you have some experience with fixing asphalt. Most of the time, you should have the ability to patch up very small issues, such as a single crack along the edge of your pavement.
If you think that the issues affecting your pavement are small enough for you to handle, there’s a good chance that you could do some spot repairs to ensure that the surface is durable and protected. Thankfully, there are many ways that you can perform these simple fixes. Doing so is an excellent choice if you want to avoid having to pay professionals to fix your driveway or parking lot or if you have some skills working with such items.
For example, you can add a little tar to the damaged areas and spread it evenly to let it soak into the crack. This tar will then dry and hold your asphalt together for a more extended period. These patches are a popular way of managing minor issues because they should take no longer than an hour or two to finish. If you don’t want to add hot tar, you can also add pre-manufactured patches to your damaged asphalt to protect its surface.
While you don’t need to work with paving contractors to do these types of spot repairs, you may still want to contact one to check your work after you’re done. There’s a good chance that there may be more involved issues affecting your pavement that trigger these cracks. Fully understanding these concerns can help you and your paving contractor do what is necessary to repair your slab.
Remove Affected Areas If Necessary
Spot repairs on your asphalt paving can help to manage many small problems and keep them from becoming a significant issue. However, there comes a time when some pavement issues cannot be handled, no matter how much you repair them. In this situation, there’s a good chance that you and some paving contractors are going to have to remove small portions of your driveway or parking lot and replace them with new pavement.
This type of spot replacement is necessary if your cracks continually appear in one spot and never spread beyond there. That’s because problems with your sub-base or other concerns are probably causing weakness in this area that requires more specialized repair techniques. So you will likely have to completely break these areas apart with sledgehammers, remove the remaining asphalt, and check out the sub-base to see what is happening.
Then, you probably need to have a professional diagnose the problem and carefully repair the sub-base. Sub-base damage is something that you probably can’t handle on your own because it is such a critical and often hard-to-understand type of repair. Thankfully, most types of sub-base repairs shouldn’t take more than an afternoon to finish, though pouring the asphalt may have to occur later on in the week to ensure that things go smoothly.
Get the Whole Surface Repaired
If you’re struggling to handle these cracks on your own, you need to contact paving contractors and get the whole surface repaired. This process may seem a bit extreme but is often necessary for many situations. For example, if your entire slab is affected by alligator cracking or other types of problems, you need to contact a professional who fully understands how to implement high-quality repairs.
In many cases, you can manage this problem by merely repairing all of the surface and ensuring that it doesn’t crack again. However, these repairs may only be delaying the inevitable. If you suffer from cracks that go across your whole pavement surface, there is a good chance that you need not just to repair the pavement but that you may also require a complete replacement of the entire slab, all the way from the sub-base to the very surface.
This replacement is often necessary because cracks this extreme usually start at the sub-base and spread up throughout the surface of your pavement. Problems with the sub-base include issues with its stability, water throughout much of its surface, and temperature issues that spread problems throughout the whole slab. Pay attention to these kinds of issues to learn more about how they affect you and pay particular attention to the cost of total replacement.
Don’t Let Cracks Take Over!
As you can see, dealing with cracks is a time-consuming process that will require you to put in some hours of work to finish. So if you need to work with paving contractors from Champaign, Mahomet, Monticello, or other towns in central Illinois, contact us at Elite Paving & Sealcoating to learn more. Our experts have the skills necessary to help keep your pavement as strong as possible.
Do You Know How to Seal Your Asphalt Pavement?
Your asphalt paving in Central Illinois requires a little TLC from time to time to ensure that it remains stable and durable. For example, you need to add a sealcoat every few years to increase your pavement’s strength.
How do you know when it’s time for a sealcoat? Typically, you’ll need one every 2-3 years or so. Any sooner and you will add too much, and any later and the sealcoat will wear off too fast. Understanding every step of this process – including preparation, weather, and application – can ensure things go smoothly for you.
Proper Preparation
When you’re attempting to sealcoat your asphalt paving, you need to perform a reasonably extensive evaluation and preparation process to ensure that everything goes smoothly. These steps help to ensure that your asphalt is as strong as possible and that it won’t suffer from any problems during the sealcoating process. Just a few steps in this process include how you should:
Check the Surface
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- – The surface of your asphalt must be evaluated before you get any sealcoating. Typically, you’re not going to need any sealcoat for at least 12-24 months after you install a new surface. However, older surfaces will be examined to see when they were last sealcoated and if they are due for a fresh protective coat.
Repair Imperfections – If your asphalt has a variety of imperfections, such as potholes, oil stains, cracks, or any other kind of damage, you need to get them repaired before you get a sealcoat. The surface of the asphalt must be as stable as possible, and imperfections may cause the sealcoat to set improperly and may trigger problems with your pavement in general.
Clean the Pavement – After you’ve repaired your pavement with patches or new asphalt installation, you need to use brooms, brushes, or other types of washers to clean the surface. Doing so will remove dirt, mold, bacteria, and stains that could cause problems with your sealcoat. A power washer is a good choice because it will break apart deep stains and move water more efficiently.
These simple steps vary little when you install a sealcoat on your asphalt. The only changes would occur depending on the weather and temperature of the day on which you install the pavement. This factor is critical because improper weather conditions could cause your sealcoat to set incorrectly and may trigger other issues with your pavement that wouldn’t otherwise occur.
Check the Weather Conditions
The weather on your application day is surprisingly crucial to the quality of your sealcoating. If you don’t take the time to wait for the right day, you could do your sealcoating a grave disservice. That’s because a sealcoat is very sensitive to temperature, wind, and precipitation. Fully understanding these issues can make preparation easier by getting you to choose the best possible time for sealcoat application.
For example, a sealcoat applied when the temperature is below 50 degrees will set more slowly and may not set correctly in some areas of the asphalt paving. As a result, water, bacteria, and mold may more easily invade your asphalt and make their way down through the surface. And once the sealcoat does set after this invasion, you may trap these items under the surface and make escape more robust for them to handle.
Just as importantly, you need to make sure that you apply sealcoat on a dry and sunny day when the sun is high and the wind is low. Low wind conditions help to make the application process easier by avoiding blown or running sealant. The sun itself helps to improve the speed of the setting and ensures that the pavement is warm enough. Unfortunately, rain and other types of precipitation will cause setting issues that may complicate your asphalt paving sealcoating process.
Once you’ve adequately prepared your asphalt slab and the weather conditions are right, you can start to apply your sealcoat. This process is typically not that complex for most people to do if they have any experience with staining in the past. However, there are many mistakes that an amateur could make that would ruin the efficiency of this process, which is one reason why so many people choose professionals.
Applying the Sealcoat
Once your asphalt paving is prepared and ready for the sealcoating process, you can apply this liquid across the surface of your asphalt. As mentioned before, you’re going to need to perform this action at least every 2-3 years, but if this is your driveway’s first sealcoat, you need to add two coats to the surface. This process helps the sealant to penetrate the surface of the asphalt more efficiently and creates a stronger coating that will last for years against various types of weathering problems.
You can apply this sealant in a variety of different ways. Some people may want to apply it by hand using large rollers and brushes. This step is a good idea if you have some cracks and other areas that you weren’t able to repair and you want to make sure that they get the most sealant. However, this method can take more time and will also be harder on your body. You’ll need to work from front to back and left to right to ensure that you get the best results, which can be hard over an application period.
Thankfully, you can also apply your sealant using a power sprayer, which is the easiest way to sealcoat your pavement. Attach the sprayer to the appropriate barrel of sealcoat and turn it on to spread your sealant correctly. Try to move slowly even with this sprayer, though, to ensure that as much surface of your pavement gets covered as possible. And avoid, whenever possible, backtracking and covering up areas that you’ve already treated with sealcoat.
Find Professional Help
While sealcoating isn’t an overly challenging activity, mistakes can cause many issues. For example, you may miss applying the sealcoat into small cracks and make them more prone to damage. Even worse, you could add excessive sealcoat in one area and leave others relatively unprotected, which could produce some unattractive looks and styles.
So if you need to sealcoat your asphalt paving in Central Illinois, don’t hesitate to reach out to us today to learn more. Our professionals can assess the state of your sealcoating, let you know if you need a new application, and walk you through the whole process. With our help, you can ensure that your asphalt driveway is strong and stable for years to come.
Keeping Your Asphalt Paving Strong in the Summer Heat
Summer is almost upon us, and you’re thinking about asphalt paving in Central Illinois. This process is a wise choice if you need a new driveway or an excellent material for a parking lot, but summer can be a significant challenge for this unique and powerful paving option.
As a result, you need to take steps to ensure that your paving is in as good of shape as possible this summer. The following maintenance steps help to protect the surface of your pavement and make sure that it lasts for years longer than you might imagine.
1. Inspecting Your Pavement First
The first step in this process is to inspect your asphalt as much as possible before you start performing any maintenance. This step includes checking your asphalt for any signs of damage, including breaks in the surface of the pavement, cracks, and even bubbles. This type of damage can quickly spread across your parking lot or driveway and cause complications that are hard to overcome.
Don’t be afraid to get on your hands and knees to perform a very slow, but thorough, inspection. As you move, make sure that you pay attention to small signs of imperfections. These are often harder to spot than more significant problems but can spiral out of control into major issues quite quickly. Just as importantly, make sure to track the issues as you move to ensure you find them correctly.
This whole process should take from 1-3 hours, depending on the size of your asphalt paving surface. For example, a large parking lot will naturally take longer to inspect than a smaller driveway. And make sure that you bring along multiple people to help with this process to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible and to ensure that you don’t miss any potential issues.
2. Regularly Clean Your Pavement
Dirt and other contaminants can easily affect your asphalt paving in a multitude of ways. For example, some driveways and parking lots may end up getting affected by mold, mildew, and other types of issues that can rapidly spread across your pavement and cause surprisingly devastating damage if not properly managed.
For example, mold may work its way into cracks on the surface of your pavement and cause them to widen as the growth expands. This problem is an insidious one because it typically happens quite slowly but can take over your driveway before you have a chance to react to it. This process is one that you should do at least once every week or two to ensure that you get the best results. The cleaning process can vary depending on your pavement, but should include scrubbing and other types of methods to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible.
3. Filling and Sealing Any Cracks
Cracks are a common problem with pavement and can become a serious issue if you let them spread. This issue is one that can quickly sneak up on you if you aren’t careful about properly repairing cracks as they develop on the surface of your driveway.
For example, you should seal any cracks that you notice in your asphalt paving to ensure that they aren’t too severe. You can either spot repair these cracks yourself or contact a professional in Central Illinois to ensure that your pavement is as durable as possible against the hot summer sun.
Just as importantly, you should sealcoat your asphalt if you haven’t done so yet. Add an excellent sealcoat to your driveway ever 2-3 years, but no more, to ensure that it remains strong under various weather conditions. For example, sealcoating protects your driveway and parking lot from UV rays during the hot summer season.
4. Control Pooling Water ASAP
One issue that you might notice affecting your pavement this year is pooling water. The heavy precipitation coming out of spring – combined with the melting snow common in Central Illinois – can make your parking lot or driveway a very messy place.
Unfortunately, all of this water might start eating away at the surface of your pavement to cause indents and other problems. This pooling water can then cause different types of damage to your asphalt, damage that may be hard to reverse or fix with other repair methods.
Therefore, you need to make sure that you fix any pooling water issues the moment that you spot them on your asphalt. This process often requires filling in areas of your pavement that are sinking or sagging or fixing the base of your driveway thoroughly.
5. Change Up Where You Park
One smart way that you can avoid issues with your asphalt paving is to change up where you park throughout the summer. As asphalt is uniquely affected by the heat of the sun, changing up where you park ensures that you don’t focus too much weight in a single location. For example, if you park in just one spot all summer, your tires could combine with the heat to cause minor to significant damage to the asphalt.
Just as importantly, you need to make sure that you avoid placing any other heavy objects on the surface of the asphalt during the hottest time of the year. For example, cement blocks, large parking signs, and other items could start to sag into your asphalt if you let them sit for too long. This process should take years to worsen, but can be avoided with a careful change up of where you place heavy items.
Try to avoid putting your car in the same spot every time you come home for the night. You can also change up your parking sports for your business to prevent this problem as well. Try to paint the lines in slightly different directions to distribute weight more evenly across your pavement surface. In this way, you can keep your parking lot or driveway secure for years to come.
Getting the Help That You Need
As you can see, maintenance on your asphalt is simpler and more streamlined than you may have imagined. However, you may still want to hire a professional to do some of this work for you to ensure that it goes as smoothly as possible during the hottest summer months.
So if you want to ensure you get the best asphalt paving in Central Illinois this summer, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Elite Paving & Sealcoating to learn more. We can not only install high-quality pavement at your home or business, but can also provide maintenance and much more.
